Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin extended gains on Tuesday, helped by softer underlying prices and hopes of lower supplies from the Middle East amid ongoing and upcoming outages at some plants, traders said.

The crack rose by about $4 to $9.50 per metric ton over Brent crude. Meanwhile, the second-half December naphtha price slipped by $11 to $638 per ton in contango structure.

The gasoline margin was also boosted by bullish fuel demand data from key consumer China. The crack GL92-SIN-CRK traded above $8 per barrel over Brent crude.

China’s gasoline and aviation fuel consumptionsurged during the Golden Week holiday, when travellers made 826 million trips within mainland China, up 71.3% from a year earlier and 4.1% higher than the pre-pandemic year of 2019, data showed.

Indian fuel consumption also rose last month, government data showed ahead of the festive season. Sales of gasoline in October were 2.6% higher than the previous month at 3.14 million tonnes.

NEWS

– China’s oil refinery utilisation rates are easing from record third-quarter levels as thinning margins and a shortage of export quotas discourage plants from raising output for the rest of 2023, according to traders and industry consultancies.

– Saudi Aramco reported a 23% fall in third-quarter net profit on the back of lower oil prices and volumes sold, marginally beating analyst estimates and helping prop up its shares in early trade.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Varun H K)